"When I went through vet school, many years ago, it was dominated by men; today it's dominated by women," Mr Kelly told the publication.

"That's fine, but the problem is one woman graduate is equivalent to two fifths of a full-time equivalent vet throughout her life because she gets married and has a family, which is normal. So, though we're graduating a lot of vets, we're getting a high fall-out rate later on."